[Former Soviet Union: Operation Provide Hope Assistance]

In the area of humanitarian assistance, on May 21,
Operation Provide Hope II delivered 38 rail cars of surplus,
Department of Defense food supplies to the formerly closed
Russian city of Severodvinsk. The shipment was valued at $2.6
million. A U.S. military team monitored the delivery of the
food to local kindergartens, schools, and hospitals.
In the area of economic relations: Bell Laboratories
has contracted with the Physics Institute of the Russian Academy
of Sciences for the services of 100 scientists and technicians.
The scientists will work on fiber-optics development.
Over the past week, USIA awarded a grant to bring up to
100 students from the New Independent States to the United
States for 6-month internships in a variety of fields. The
first group is expected to arrive in Washington in mid-August.

[Former Yugoslavia: Update]

I'd like to do, before I take your questions, an
overall update on the situation in Yugoslavia, if that's okay.
With the passage of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 757 last weekend, the international community has
0made clear that it is united in opposition to Serbian
aggression.
It has also made clear that there will be an
increasingly severe cost for Serbia if that aggression
continues.
It is noteworthy that voices are emerging in Serbia to
question the dead-end policies of the Serbian leadership. The
Serbian orthodox church has been critical of the government, and
there have been anti-government demonstrations in Belgrade.
We hope the Serbian leadership will come to its senses
and stop its aggression. Continuing down that path will lead
only to isolation and economic disaster for Serbia.
On our overall update for Bosnia: Fighting continues
in Sarajevo, though at reduced levels. Serb forces are
sporadically shelling the city; street-to-street fighting
continues. A cease-fire mediated by U.N. officials in Sarajevo
is scheduled to go into effect at noon, Washington time today.
Our reports indicate that the food situation remains
very grave. The situation is particularly difficult because
distribution of available food is often uncertain or impossible.
On Friday, May 22, UNHCR suspended all convoys to
Bosnia because of Serbian refusal to allow deliveries through
Serb-controlled areas. Serbian forces continue to control
Sarajevo's airport, which remains closed.
We have only scant information about the rest of Bosnia
because most telephone lines are down. We understand that
sometimes severe fighting continues in many other towns, causing
many thousands of additional displaced persons.
We understand that in Banja Luka, in northwest Bosnia
and one of the most populous Bosnian districts, Serb forces
continue to expel non-Serbs in a declared "ethnic purification"
campaign. We are concerned about continuing reports of Serb
massacres of Bosnian Muslims, but we cannot independently
confirm these reports through neutral international observers.
We strongly condemn Serb use of terror tactics to force
non-Serbs out of Serb controlled areas. The United States will
refuse to recognize such changes in population and control of
territory through the use of force and intimidation.
In Croatia, we understand that the cease-fire in
Dubrovnik held overnight. We have, however, reports of
continued Serbian shelling of Dubrovnik this morning by Serbian
irregulars.
On refugees: Our numbers have not changed since the
numbers we gave you on Friday. Overall, we have an estimate
from the International Red Cross and the United Nations of about
1.3 million displaced persons, but we'd like you to bear in mind
that these are only estimates and that no one really knows how
many displaced persons there are.
I think most of you are aware that elections were held
on May 31, which was yesterday. Serbian and Montenegro held
elections which was May 31 for local officials and for
representatives to the new assembly of the so-called "Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia."
The United States agrees with the assessment of the
CSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights --
and with Serb and Montenegrin opposition parties -- that these
elections were organized in a non-democratic fashion. The
government allowed only a very short period to organize these
elections; opposition parties do not have equal access to the
media; and government forces openly intimidate and threaten
vocal members of the opposition.
The United States view is that these elections were
neither free nor fair nor legitimate.
That's my update on Yugoslavia.
Q Margaret, that's about the kind of report you
would have given us before the sanctions went into effect. So
are the sanctions having any positive impact that you can tell?
MS. TUTWILER: Barry, I don't know that anyone in the
world could judge that for you. These sanctions went into
effect late Friday night. That's a little over 48 hours ago.
I think you've seen the press reports that I've seen,
that our Embassy has confirmed that approximately 50,000 people
-- it's my understanding -- were demonstrating in downtown
Belgrade yesterday in opposition, it's my understanding, of the
policies being pursued by this leadership. I don't know why
those people are out in the streets. Go interview them. Many
of your colleagues are. But many people that I saw over the
weekend expressed very much concern -- normal citizens -- about
what this was going to do to their livelihood.
Q Margaret, I wasn't really asking about the merits
of whether the Serbs are nice or not nice. I just wondered,
because the point of the sanctions was to change behavior, to
cause the Serbs to do something. Have they responded in any way
that you can tell, to the sanctions?
You're giving us -- maybe the people on the streets
find that the sanctions echo their complaints, but --
MS. TUTWILER: Barry, I don't --
Q -- has anything happened? Have they had any
positive effect?
MS. TUTWILER: I don't think that we nor the United
Nations were naive enough to think, after the many, many months
of EC-mediated talks of the Special Envoy of the Secretary
General -- former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance -- of the
untold efforts that have been made by any number of individuals
in other countries that anyone expected, in 48 hours, a reversal
of a pattern of behavior that the world is condemning.
Q Margaret, has the United States frozen the assets
yet?
MS. TUTWILER: Yes. The White House put out a
statement. It's about a 2-page statement, I believe, on
Saturday, concerning the United States figure. The Treasury
Department is right now pulling that together for public
release. They said it may take them, for the actual number,
about another week. But you're safe to report that it is
somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million in the United
States.
Q To follow that quickly, please. No, very quickly,
because with that freezing of $220 million, there's a report
that over a billion has been shifted. Do you know if that's a
credible report?
MS. TUTWILER: We don't know if that's a credible
report or not. But I would remind you, the reports that I have
seen say that it's $1.5 billion and that it was shifted to
Cyprus; and I would remind you that everyone that I'm aware of
is abiding by the United Nations resolutions. So whether it is
in Cyprus or it's in any other country in the world, it's
frozen.
Q Margaret, in the statement, the President said, in
notifying Congress that he was freezing the assets, that
Serbia's actions represented a risk to United States national
security interests.
I'm wondering how that squares with your hesitancy two
weeks ago to say that? Has something changed? Has Serbia's
behavior escalated to the point where it is now a risk, where it
might not have been two weeks ago?
MS. TUTWILER: I'll be honest with you, I have not this
morning read the 2-page statement from the White House. I'm not
doubting that it says that. So, obviously, I will follow the
White House's lead, if that is indeed what is in the
Presidential statement of Saturday.
Q Margaret, does the United States support the right
of return of these Bosnian refugees?
MS. TUTWILER: I don't know, Alan, because I know that
that will immediately lead me into probably some other area that
you'd like to discuss. It has never come up.
I know that there are 1.3 million displaced persons,
and I will be more than happy to ask. But I know that whether
you support their -- to use your phraseology, not mine -- right
of return, we certainly want whatever it is that can possibly be
done to stop any more individuals being displaced through
shelling and bombing, and for these humanitarian convoys to be
able to get through to these people and the airports opened.
Q Margaret, that's a strangely kind of evasive
answer, since the 1.3 million people --
MS. TUTWILER: Well, it's an interesting question that
you ask.
Q Without connection to any other conflict anywhere
in the world, people have been chased from their homes in the
last three months or so. Should they be able to go home?
There's been "ethnic cleansing" and whole communities have been
driven out of towns, out of neighborhoods. Should that ethnic
cleansing stand, or should these people be allowed to go back?
MS. TUTWILER: Obviously, Alan, we have been horrified
by the terms that have been used: "ethnic cleansing." I have
seen other terms that have been used which are horrifying to us
and to the world.
Whether people should go home or not, I can't stand
here and judge for you. I don't know where all of these people
are right now. I don't know what individual decisions would be
made by individuals whose homes -- many of whom have no home to
return to; it's been blown to smithereens. So it's a
hypothetical question for me and something that once there is
safety in these cities, in this area, for individuals themselves
to determine. I can't answer for you on a total hypothetical
what people are going to determine based on when they learn what
is the individual situation concerning their former home.
Q The implication of your answer is that the United
States supports splitting Bosnia into ethnic cantons -- one for
the Serb community, on for the Crotian community, one for the
Muslim community.
MS. TUTWILER: I don't know how you could possibly get
that deduction from anything I've said.
Q Well, I tell you one deduction that could be drawn
from your statement -- because it sounds like echoes of another
conflict, of your wrestling, and unsuccessfully, with Saddam
Husayn. Your reference to the people in the streets and the
complaints about the elections, is the State Department or is
the Administration hoping that somehow the people will take
matters into their own hands and get rid of Milosevic? Is that
your kind of veiled message here?
MS. TUTWILER: Our message here is no different than in
any other country. It obviously is for the people of any nation
to determine what their leadership is. What we are in a
position today and have been consistently is calling on the
Serbian leadership, who in most people's view have it within
their means or can certainly use their influence to get the
Sarajevo Airport opened for humanitarian relief flights and to
let Red Cross convoys and other international humanitarian
relief organizations -- let humanitarian relief convoys on the
roads get through.
Q I mean, you lost -- obviously, early on you lost
hope that Saddam Husayn could be rehabilitated. But you think
this government is a government that the U.S. could still work
with? It can turn around and do the right thing, is that what
you're saying?
MS. TUTWILER: I'm not aware that the United States
Government has said that they cannot work with the Serbian
Government. As you know, we still have a presence there. We
still -- even though it's not Yugoslavia as we all know it,
etc., we have not, as you know, broken diplomatic relations.
So again, the United States and other nations are
calling on the leadership in Belgrade to use whatever influence
that the majority of people in the world believe they have to
alleviate this humanitarian situation.

Q Another subject? Margaret, is Secretary Baker
planning to step down as Secretary of State and run the Bush
campaign?
MS. TUTWILER: No.
Q Has he been asked by the President to do this?
MS. TUTWILER: No, he has not. And I'm aware, as I'm
sure a number of you are, that there were a number of purely
speculative stories over this past weekend. The President and
the Secretary of State have never had a conversation about the
possibility of the Secretary of State resigning.
The President himself this weekend in California
answered this question to a number of your colleagues. I can
give you and supply the White House transcript. Marlin
[Fitzwater] responded after the President spoke, further
elaborating on this subject, and beyond the facts that I've
stated and the President has stated and Marlin has elaborated on
it, there's absolutely nothing here to talk about.
Q Can I just follow up? Is Mr. Zoellick planning to
leave the State Department to in some capacity run either the
White House staff or the campaign?
MS. TUTWILER: That has been either intertwined [with]
or one of the stand-alone speculative stories that I've seen,
and just as I have used all the discipline that I have for three
and a half years not to engage on foreign policy speculative
stories that appear from time to time in the press, I'm not
going to start today on engaging in political speculative,
hypothetical stories that from time to time that -- as well
meaning as I'm sure they all are -- appear in the press.
Q So you're denying the Baker story, and you're not
dealing with the Zoellick story.
MS. TUTWILER: I will be more than glad to deny the
Zoellick story for you.
Q No. I just wondered. But let me ask you to fill
out the bay because --
Q (Multiple questions)
Q -- there's more interest in --
Q Why don't you do that?
MS. TUTWILER: I will be happy to deny for you -- what
is your question? "Is Under Secretary of State Robert Zoellick
resigning to go to the campaign?" The answer is no.
Q And is there any consideration that he ought to?
MS. TUTWILER: There are, as you're aware, any number
of unnamed officials, especially throughout this weekend, who
have suggested a number of things, one of which is that the
Under Secretary should resign, another was the Secretary of
State himself should maybe entertain the thought of resigning.
There are other individuals that have also been mentioned.
I would state again -- by unnamed officials. So what
you're really asking me -- and that's why I answered it -- is
all purely speculative. There is -- when I was asked, I've now
answered it for Barry -- "Is Under Secretary of State Robert
Zoellick resigning?" The answer is no.
Why am I saying no? The Under Secretary of State -- it
has never come up. He has not been asked. It is in the exact
same category as the purely speculative, hypothetical, you know,
stories about other individuals who work at the State
Department, including the Secretary of State. It's all in the
same category. There is nothing factual to any of these
stories. As entertaining, as much fun as they are to read,
there's just nothing to them.
Q Margaret, can you turn the Baker coin over.
You've certainly handled the question of whether he's resigning.
But can you talk about his staying on? I mean --
[Laughter]
Q I mean, in this respect. Presumably, he's staying
because he has reasons to stay. I mean, he would like to help
Bush, I'm sure, but he must have things on his plate here. What
are the things that are keeping him at State? What are the main
unfinished business of foreign policy that he hopes, you know,
within the year or before January 20, to make some headway on?
What are his driving goals here at State right now?
The peace talks, we don't hear anything about right
now. Yugoslavia's a mess. But could you tell us what it is
that he hopes to get done in the next eight, ten months that
keeps him upstairs?
MS. TUTWILER: No. Because I have never from the first
day here, nor has he, going to set out for you a --
Q Priorities.
MS. TUTWILER: Correct. Or must-do events and then for
whatever reason things change on the ground in X country and you
don't get there. So that's why I'm refraining from answering
that type of question. I will answer broadly, generally, you
know, I think, as well as anybody in this room because you cover
us so thoroughly and you travel with us -- the Secretary of
State has not changed one iota the number of hours he works
here, the number of different policy matters that he is involved
in personally.
There are a number of important issues before him as
Secretary of State, and he will continue to work full time at
this job on what I believe are -- and I think you would agree --
important matters.
Q I wanted to give you a chance to answer that.
MS. TUTWILER: Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
Q Margaret, can you give us the state of play on the
consultations with the Caribbean nations regarding expanded use
of military forces in the drug war?
MS. TUTWILER: Yes. We have under review a variety of
proposals to enhance counter drug cooperation in the Caribbean
and Central America, and until there are any types of final
decisions, I will not be able to discuss the details of these
plans or the reports of these plans.
Q Have you talked to those countries?
MS. TUTWILER: That's another one that they would
rather not discuss at this time. I would point out that in the
countries that I saw mentioned this morning, we do have ongoing
programs, but they just do not at this time, since it's under
review, want to do any details.
Q Also on the Caribbean, do you have any response to
a GAO report on the violations of the embargo against Haiti?
MS. TUTWILER: I haven't heard about that. I'm sorry.
I'll look into it. I hadn't heard about it.
Q Going back to the helicopters, Margaret --
MS. TUTWILER: To what?
Q To the helicopter question. Do you confirm that
it is Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica that we're
talking about?
MS. TUTWILER: Those are the countries that were
mentioned in this morning's article. I can cite for you, or I
can give you afterwards, we have ongoing programs in those three
countries.
Q And is there a decision already made to send --
MS. TUTWILER: Not to my knowledge. My understanding
is that this is still in the interagency process within our
government. There are no decisions.
Q Margaret, in the Philippines, General Ramos said
he's won the election. A number of authorities there have said
they agree with him. What is the U.S. position on this?
MS. TUTWILER: Our position is the same it's been
throughout, which is that the Philippine Congress is in the
process of tabulating the final results of the Presidential
election. We understand that it may take another week or two
before a winner is declared, and we will have no comment on the
results of the election until that is officially done.
Q Margaret, do you know if any number of Yugoslav
refugees have sought admission into this country, and whether
those displaced in Bosnia would qualify as political refugees?
MS. TUTWILER: I don't know. I haven't heard, Mark --
and I think that I've done a fairly good job of staying up on
the Yugoslav situation -- I have not heard that raised in any
meeting I've been in or in any briefing that I've had, but I'll
be happy to ask.
Q Margaret, to quote your words of a few moments
ago, "The Secretary of State has not changed one iota the number
of hours he has worked, so on and so forth. He will continue to
work full-time as Secretary of State."
MS. TUTWILER: Right.
Q Wouldn't that sentence end with the following
caveat, "until the President calls him and says, 'Come over,'"
and then, of course, he's gone, right?
MS. TUTWILER: Well, that's a hypothetical. And, as I
said, I am not going to -- whether it is in the political arena
or any other arena, to be honest with you -- handle this any
differently than I do hypothetical, speculative questions that
you ask me concerning foreign policy. I just won't deal with
it.
Q So your statement doesn't necessarily connote
permanence. It just is a status report, a snapshot of today.
MS. TUTWILER: I understand that it would really be probably fun
for you if I let go of my discipline. But I can assure you it
would not be fun for me -- [laughter] -- and I am going to look
after myself in this case, and I am not going to take the bait.
Q Could you just note for the record --
MS. TUTWILER: I was waiting for you to come in. I
knew you couldn't resist.
[Laughter]
Q Could you just note for the record that at some
point in the future the Secretary of State will step down from
this job?
MS. TUTWILER: That is totally hypothetical and totally
speculative.
[Laughter]
Q Is he going to stay forever?
Q Would he work for Perot?
Q (Multiple questions)
Q Would Secretary Baker work for Perot if called?
MS. TUTWILER: No. I answered Johanna's question.
Q Would not work for Perot? Huh.
Q The balcony has a question.
Q Just on this same vein. What if the Secretary did
not resign? You have answered the question that he is not
planning to resign. But what if he were just to go on detail
over to do some other responsibilities while keeping his present
job and then returning to it later?
MS. TUTWILER: That's really just another version, in
my interpretation, of your ABC colleague John McWethy's
question, and I honestly and truly am not going to engage in
pure hypotheticals and speculate with you.
Q You're not even willing to admit that at some
point or another he has to leave this job? [Laughter]
Q Like at the end of the term.
MS. TUTWILER: If a Democrat is elected, it would be my
assumption that he would not ask the current Secretary of State
to continue in his job; that he would appoint a Democrat. Does
that help you?
Q Thanks. [Laughter]
Q Wouldn't he work for Democrats?
Q Bernie Aronson's here.
MS. TUTWILER: I think in his early life, yes.
Q I don't know if there are any more questions. I
want to go out and file this while it's still solid. [Laughter]
MS. TUTWILER: Burn up the wires with it, right?
Q Margaret, one last question: Do you have anything
on Yasser Arafat's condition?
MS. TUTWILER: No.
Q Thank you.
(The briefing concluded at 12:37 p.m.)